Nadda's jibe at parties supporting anti-CAA protests: For them vote comes first, country later

Hitting out at the parties supporting protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, BJP President J P Nadda on Thursday said vote comes first for them and country later.

Slamming the Congress for backing the Shaheen Bagh protest, Nadda said in 2003, the then Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Manmohan Singh had urged deputy prime minister L K Advani to grant citizenship to minorities in Bangladesh.

"Some people are sitting in protest against CAA but not a single Congress leader has condemned it, that is their character. If anything happens in JNU, they reach there without any delay and start crying foul," Nadda said, addressing a public meeting in Palam constituency.

In a veiled attack on Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia for supporting the Shaheen Bagh protest, Nadda said, "Vote comes first for them and country later. For us country is important not the vote," he said, adding that those opposing CAA should explain what is wrong with the act.

In an interaction with a news channel, Sisodia said he stood with the Shaheen Bagh protestors.